Tuesday, 4 January 2011

Storytime

We start the day, writing stories.

I can think to write only one, and that is the peril, disaster and joy that has marked the last ten years. I am sure there were other stories in me, but they are gone along with dinosaurs and prehistory. Nevertheless, I choose one poignant moment and say I shall write about that.

I forewarn the children that writing anything at all, even a blog diary or an apology to the bank, can be lonely, painful, and slow. Expect misery. It is hard work, thinking up new words to describe ingratitude and upset, sitting for hours on a sore bum, and banging your fingers against an unforgiving keyboard.

The children fail to understand this sacrificial state of sufferance, solitude and attics, and start writing their history of the unicorn clan, seated all together round the table in complete dedication and joy. Misty, Snuffynose, Starhoof, Sparklegazer and that drama queen, Blutina, all appear in various scenes, but I note there is some sniggering when Lem is described as the miserable one who sits in a hedge.

By lunchtime, I plod on with a face like a flogged martyr, and the offspring become distracted with laughing uproariously at what they have so far achieved, before turning their hands at illustrations for their art. This seems to be cutting out unicorn bedrooms made of paper then creating posters for the walls. Painted black, the posters read Doom, Doom, Doom, All Love is Doomed, Death to all, and General Woe. As the children read them out, they are falling over the table with undisguised mirth.

By tea time I had nearly completed my elegiac tale of sorrow and mental trauma while the children were bent double with giggling fits from Squirrel's story of a blind unicorn falling horn first into a pond.

It looks suspiciously to me, with this dangerous combination of hysteria and mortality, like the unicorns may have arrived at that point of the story where they are on the frenetic brink of a manic depressive hormonal cycle. Mark my words, it will soon burst out in Don't treat me like a child, I never asked to be born, and No one understands me. Either from them or me.

Well, because we are busy with being writerly, some of us creating beautiful and sombre tales of a mad women and a toilet wipe, or others having fun at the expense of a miserable unicorn in a pit, I have nothing much else to say that is coherent. So here is a delightful picture of one of my junior authors.

She has clearly not suffered enough for her art, so I shall write a story where she is out on the razzle with a Tequila Slammer and added cherry cider, just about to be thrown out the Oxbridge club and into the Pall Mall night, from where she will meet a young man who is a bad influence and who will carry her off to new misadventures. Either that or she will be abducted by aliens.

Other stuff

We have educated triplet girls to age 16 by never sending them to school.

At age 16, one daughter is now at 6th form for A levels, so you can find out about culture clash.

The other two daughters are taking a year to think what they want to do next, because we run at our own pace.If you are looking for primary, try the archives under 2011 or 2012. Ideas? Try Seven days with elephants.

Secondary home ed? Try 2012 or 2014 through to 2016.

Exams made life boring for us all and the blog stopped for long periods so the home educated could concentrate on enjoying some teens.

From 2016, expect the blog to start concentrating on me, me, me, because it's my turn.

Home ed style: Secular, philosophical, eclectic, autonomous.

Exams: own choice IGCSE courses. The HE-exams group is a must-join. I gave formal lessons in nothing.

where is everybody?

This blog is a record of a home educationwrit for parents thinking about home edwrit for the LA who need an education about home edwrit for Grit's friends and relations who drop in once a yearand writ for Grit's sane and lovely mind.

The internal DCSF Consultation Report, made public 23 January. (pdf)In Annex A, 94% of respondents disagreed that the local authority should have the power to interview a home educated child alone.When this comes out Ed Balls' mouth in the Second Reading Debate, 94% against turns to:'The vast majority of parents would be happy to let that happen'(Hansard 11.01.10, Children, Schools and Families Bill, col 437.)

Love it or loathe it? The petition still broke a record.Press release in the Mirror, Channel4 news, the Guardian.

'Even if you don't currently see yourself home educating, you never know what the future might hold, and if a time comes when you find yourself needing to pull your child out of school, I hope the option is still available to you, and you don't regret thinking *it's nothing to do with me*.'

Read the Right to Reply'Home educators are renowned for their strong opinions and independent spirit. They come from all faiths and none. They have as many approaches to education as there are children. They rarely agree on anything. And yet they are remarkably united in their opposition to these proposals. There is great concern that their way of life will be legislated out of existence.'--Response to the Badman Review of Elective Home Education in England and reaction to the Select Committee hearing.

The problem with home educators is that they are impossible to define. The only things that links them is respect for their children. And did the state just stagger foolishly across that line?Are we sandal wearing tree huggers who let our kids run wild or control mad Jesus freaks who don't want them learning about sex and evolution? Are we hot housing or leaving them to watch TV and play computer games all day? -Firebird.The UK government suggested that we home educate our children to cover up our abuse.On that issue, would you like some statistics?

'The Department [for Children, Schools and Families] is aware that attempts are being made on the Internet to vilify and harass the author of the review. It is the Department's view that, whilst dealing with each request on its merits, this situation will have to be taken into account in dealing with any relevant FOI requests. ... we anticipate the need to consider whether it is in the public interest to release information likely to intensify any such campaign, or to lead to harassment or distress to individuals.'Hello DCSF. Vilify: to make vicious and defamatory statements about.Like putting it about that home educated children are abused by their parents? Isolated? Unsocialised? Denied an education?And the latest one, that their mothers have Munchhausen's Syndrome by Proxy, and benefit from their child's suffering.

... compulsory registration, entry to the home, inspection according to external standards, and power to see the child without the parent present.By implication this applies to anyone who has their child at home with them: particularly parents with under 5s, but also those with school-aged children who are at home in the evenings, over the weekends, and throughout the summer holidays. Think on: the possibility of parental inspection, with or without your presence, based on the very human whim of a local authority officer.Is that okay with you?Renegade Parent on the implications for all parents from the Badman review of home education.

'Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children'.(Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, Article 26.3)

Photos and text copyright Grit.This is Grit's blog. The pictures come from her broken phone camera, and they are hers by right.

The words too are Grit's, Grit's, all Grit's. This is not to say you cannot use any words that Grit uses - after all, she is the unhinged woman who once banned SOIL - but you just cannot lift them in the long, complex and lovely arrangements, like the ones Grit has writ.

Please ask! If you wish to take images from this site, please send an email to gritsday@gmail.com

Keywords you may need for grit's day

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